StanleyPainDid he just say that Scientology, Thelema and Gnosticism are "humanistic religions?"

Jesus...he hasn't changed a fucking bit.

EvilHomerYeah, I'm honestly a bit surprised. I thought a year in prison would have mellowed Nick out, at least for a little while; but nope. Here he is, wallowing in some kind of parolee-grouphome, pumping out three videos in one day and calling Scientology a humanistic religion.

RosebeekeeIf there was ever proof that the US prison system doesn't work...

Cena_markScientology is humanist as it says humans have unlimited potential, it's just those damned thetans holding us back.

Jeriko-1I actually have something approaching a particle of sympathy. If this is really what he's tuned into?

They will eat him.
They will spit out the bones.

The Spike Bravos of the world is what made them nice and fat.

Oscar WildcatIt's kind of like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object. Who will prevail. Odds are strongly on scientology, but nick is surprisingly indigestible.

StanleyPainIf there's one thing the Church of Scientology loves it's ex-cons with no money.

SolRoI mean, if you're going to scam and steal from people, organized religion is one of the few ways to do it legally

Gypsy_Dildo_FactoryOutdated editions of Dianetics are sent to prison libraries but they are seldom touched.

Gypsy_Dildo_Factory"need to make this video, they wont let me take the camera to the bathroom, or point it up from the floor, sorry again about the tiger rug and the laughter in the background." -- I still live worse than that somehow

Jack DaltonI was late to the work-release video and I'll comment on this one. Spike Bravo is a paradox that is fascinating and scary. When he talks about his experience in prison, it sounds reasonable and empathetic... Without knowing him, you would think he is sincere. He records himself when he is vulnerable, and says the right things. If you do know him, you remember that he visited the grave of a woman whose house he obtained by fraud... on video...and commented on how it was a shame she did not have a gravestone, while mocking people who wanted to expose him for the fraud. He flaunted his wealth and business acumen for stealing homes around on videos with a superiority that is a contrast to the time he celebrated making recycling cans and seemed humbled but determined.
You can boil it down to this-- he will do and say whatever is necessary to get ahead, and he makes it clear that he never gave a shit about the people who gave him a break or helped him. The only thing he gives a shit about is letting you know that he achieved that objective, and he is completely unfiltered with absolutely no shame. He is a special kind of sociopath that should be studied.

Oscar WildcatEntirely agreed except for that last line. Are you joking? Our economic system churns out guys like this by the gross. I've met variants of him so often I've come to see it as normal behavior. Whats shocks and amazes me is the rare individual who _isn't_ like Corky.

And it's not hard to understand why. Put yourself in those stinking shoes for a moment. He probably spenr the better part of the day collecting those cans and recycling them, this is actually hard work, and the result was a piddling amount of money. Very humbling. Then, he signs his name to a piece of paper, and makes 100,000USD. Given a choice between those two lifestyles, which would you choose?

Well, there are in fact people who will choose path one. Amazing and well worth understanding. But path two is common as dirt. So long as the system favors fraud over real work, we're stuck with this vast army of Corkys.

memedumpsterYeah, I don't need to study him, I have to choose soon which version of him I'm going to vote for.

He really is plan A off the human evolutionary assembly line. Premium model.

Miss Henson's 6th grade classI'll add that the thing about Corky that sets him apart is that he's not really very good at any of this. It's one thing to declare yourself the next Jesus, or to scam somebody, or to want to be a huge movie star or celebrity, or to go on self-help "teaching" monologues. It's probably not that uncommon to meet people who want to do all of them, at least on YouTube. But what sets Corky apart is how bad he is at the whole thing. The dude has a terrible personality, is probably subnormal intelligence, and looks like's Shrek's brother. Like most PoE exhibits, what really brings the laughs and the fascination is the space between his aspirations and his reality.

Jack DaltonNo, he is a special sociopath--there are PLENTY to choose from, but I think his his obsession with v-blogging everything is what makes him interesting. He will document all his failures and success-- he mimics empathy and reasoning skills, and is confident that he is "cunning" enough conceal his idiotic intentions. it is like he gets pleasure creating a narrative of a sympathetic intellectual struggling to attain success, but he is transparent about it all in a way that is reckless. He is self-aware enough to know that people hate him and think is an idiot and a fraud. Yes, there are smarter and more charasmatic sociopaths (and plenty of dumb ones) but he puts on display his uniquely unearned narcissism even when it would be in his best interest not to.

EvilHomerI don't know if Nick is an outright sociopatn (in my usage: someone who physically lacks a capacity for empathy) or just a very bitter misanthrope who, after suffering years of abuse, is lost past caring. I guess it doesn't really matter at this point, but Nick may well have empathy; it's just that his narcissim, fear, and rage completely overpower any inclination towards decency.

I think the important thing about Nick and his narcissism and his interest in scamming people, is that Nick is incredibly insecure, and this makes him the perfect *mark*, not the perfect scammer. He thinks of himself of himself as a cunning conman and a get-rich-quick kinda guy, but in reality, he's exactly the sort of vulnerable, desperate person whom con artists pray upon. As I've said before, Nick imagines himself to be a supervillain wreaking vengance on the world that rejected him, but in reality, he's never been more than a bumbling henchman - you know, the kind who always wind up inadvertently foiling their master's plans (cough cough, flashing stolen money on Youtube).

Nick will fit right in with Scientology. He is exactly the sort of person they will use - I just hope that they play it smart, and don't trust him with any important duties. Otherwise he might, through a serious of improbable and hilarious errors, take the entire Church down with him.

EvilHomerThe fact that he won't shut up and constantly puts himself out there, despite (or perhaps, beause of) all the negative attention he gets, that's just the gravy on top. I'm sure the world has a ton of Nicks, just like it has a ton of ChrisChans, but 99% of them aren't willing to lay their entire lives out on the internet, like Nick does.

Oscar WildcatThat's... actually a pretty good analysis, EH. The only thing I'd take issue with is that _all_ cons and marks are interchangeable. For it is said, and it is true, that you can't con an honest man. That's certainly how the mystery schools like Scientology work. Each person, conning the people below them, and being conned by those above.

But I came back here to say Narcissist, and by god, you beat me to it. So, you've been hanging out with the psych people over there at the VA?

Oscar WildcatThat first paragraph was very thought provoking. You might say, one is due to nature, the other, nurture. Clearly there is a great deal of overlap between the two.

Last night on the tube they were discussing using TMS to treat aspies by artificially inducing emotional states. The guy on the show had been a patient, and he described how disturbing it was to suddenly have all these weird feelings. He was very positive about it, but said it wrecked his marriage and made his job very difficult to do.

One wonders if the same could be done for sociopaths by stimulating regions of the brain associated with empathy. Not that they'd want this; it would have to be treatment mandated by a correctional facility. Shades of Clockwork Orange, no?

memedumpsterEH very well described The Mark Inside that screws up all dishonest people eventually. See also Getting the Eyes. Nick may be the technical definition of stupid : someone who causes a loss to themselves and others as a consequence of their endeavors. His greatest incapacity, as has been pointed out by several here, is that he sucks at evil.

cognitivedissonanceI don't understand how any human being can take Scientology seriously beyond it's use as a legalized mafia within Hollywood.

Void 71Some smart dude whose name I can't remember once said that in the absence of traditional religion people will always find surrogates. Scientology is a good surrogate religion for liberal Hollywood types because it doesn't require a belief in God and it isn't as outwardly insane as the sex-magicky Crowley stuff that inspired it. It's Thelema for respectable people. Nick is probably drawn to it because he wants to be one of those people.

Gypsy_Dildo_FactoryI think there are some people s.a. from different cultures who would not be familiar what they are or as discerning if approached by the ToS. I've actually found myself having to explain what they are many times when I expected people to basically have watched enough TV to to have been introduced and spoonfed a correct consensus.

I like their antipsychiatry/psych med video(s), not that I think they have some motive other than evil insidious ones. Of course the field is theirs alone (in funding such a thing with no repercuI think there are some people s.a. from different cultures who would not be familiar what they are or as discerning if approached by the ToS. I've actually found myself having to explain what they are many times when I expected people to basically have watched enough TV to to have been introduced and spoonfed a correct consensus.

I like their antipsychiatry/psych med video(s), not that I think they have some motive other than evil insidious ones. Of course the field is theirs (in funding such a thing with no worry), but I'd definitely use it for or as an example of agit-prop in a college course.